How do these swimmers swim so fast?

Good article Isobel. I'm glad to see that there are a variety of different swimming programs out there. I think that the times that the swimmers posted at the Y program are in line with their training. Keep in mind that YMCA swimming is different from USA Swimming. While a 2:12 in the 200 free for an 11-12 year old girl may hold up well at a Y meet, it would place the same girl anywhere from 27th to 30th place out of 30 swimmers at the Georgia State Championship meet. It's all relative. There is also a comparison between his swimmers and high school swimmers (their times are comparable to high school swimmers which I'm sure is true). However, a 2:12 is not the state qualifying cut here for GA High School swimming. (The cut is a 2:08.00 for one to be eligible to just enter the GA High School State meet.) It'd be interesting to see where this group is at in 5 years. I'd be willing to bet they'll be able to go under 2:08 in HS. It sounds like the technique-heavy practicing is just the construction of a good foundation, not the way it's always going to be. See, here's one thing about swimming as an adult that is much cooler than swimming as a kid: we're much better at understanding the long term (at least, I am). Isobel, I would really suggest looking at where you want to be swimming-wise in 1-5 years and plan from that. If you have a coach, you might talk to him or her about it. If you really want to make the top 10 in something, pick an event that you like and shoot for that in, say, 3 years. Start with a really technique-heavy period. Find a stroke coach, go to a stroke clinic, get feedback from someone, if you can, on your stroke. And then work on that, a lot. Read Ande's "Swim Faster Faster" thread and start working those in. I'm not saying to do stroke drills all of the time, but do a lot of them. Do some aerobic and some anaerobic/sprint swims too, but don't feel like you need to just crunch yards every practice. Over time, shift your practicing toward less drills and more yards. But, still do *some* drills every practice. I usually like to start warm-up with about 200 yards of fist swimming and "piano playing" to help find my pull (especially on my left arm). I don't know what your practice cycle looks like, but many serious programs do some kind of adjustment phase - base phase - speed phase - taper phase cycle where you get in and do a couple weeks of easy swimming (adjustment phase) then do more aerobic, distance-type swims (base phase), then more race-pace type sets (speed phase) targeted toward your choice events, then cut back yards + do sprints (taper). At the end is your target meet. Base phase is usually ~55-60% of the time, speed phase is ~30%, and taper is ~10-15%. A 5-6 month cycle like this is pretty typical. And you can set up a plan like this for, say, a base phase peak of 15-20,000 yards/week, even less if you're aiming for 50s/100s (I've heard Rob Peel did about 2500/practice while training for the 50 for trials). And when you do your fast practice swims, get fired up for them. When they start to hurt, gut them out, especially the last one--try to bring that one home. For gosh sakes, though, if you think your shoulder or back is going to bust, then rest. When some people talk about doing "quality swimming", this is what they mean. They're supposed to be hard, but you just have to think about how much better your target race will go, and how much faster you'll be able to finish that race. My definition of "quality swimming" involves both swimming with good technique and swimming hard on the sets that are supposed to be swum hard (and esp, swimming with good technique when you're tired on those sets). Swimming in the offseason helps immensely and is a great time to really work on your technique. This is a real difference maker for a lot of people that I've known. It doesn't have to be intense, but if you can get in an hour 2-3x a week in the off season, you can go into your next training cycle with better technique and with somewhat of a base already. Cross-training at any time will help improve your cardio and core strength and reduce monotony, but I wouldn't suggest doing it during taper. The point of this long post is that you have to look at it in terms of a long-term plan to get where you want to be. I don't think it's necessary to be in the pool 2 hours a day every day, beating up yards to get satisfying results. I'd target a meet, like your state meet, for next year and then think in terms of how to structure your workout routines over that year. If you have a year, starting from now, take 6 months and work on technique and do a lot of long, slow distance swimming a few times a week, then start a 6 month training cycle structured along the above lines. Then lather, rinse, repeat, so on and so forth. HTH, Mike

Good article Isobel. I'm glad to see that there are a variety of different swimming programs out there. I think that the times that the swimmers posted at the Y program are in line with their training. Keep in mind that YMCA swimming is different from USA Swimming. While a 2:12 in the 200 free for an 11-12 year old girl may hold up well at a Y meet, it would place the same girl anywhere from 27th to 30th place out of 30 swimmers at the Georgia State Championship meet. It's all relative. There is also a comparison between his swimmers and high school swimmers (their times are comparable to high school swimmers which I'm sure is true). However, a 2:12 is not the state qualifying cut here for GA High School swimming. (The cut is a 2:08.00 for one to be eligible to just enter the GA High School State meet.) It'd be interesting to see where this group is at in 5 years. I'd be willing to bet they'll be able to go under 2:08 in HS. It sounds like the technique-heavy practicing is just the construction of a good foundation, not the way it's always going to be. See, here's one thing about swimming as an adult that is much cooler than swimming as a kid: we're much better at understanding the long term (at least, I am). Isobel, I would really suggest looking at where you want to be swimming-wise in 1-5 years and plan from that. If you have a coach, you might talk to him or her about it. If you really want to make the top 10 in something, pick an event that you like and shoot for that in, say, 3 years. Start with a really technique-heavy period. Find a stroke coach, go to a stroke clinic, get feedback from someone, if you can, on your stroke. And then work on that, a lot. Read Ande's "Swim Faster Faster" thread and start working those in. I'm not saying to do stroke drills all of the time, but do a lot of them. Do some aerobic and some anaerobic/sprint swims too, but don't feel like you need to just crunch yards every practice. Over time, shift your practicing toward less drills and more yards. But, still do *some* drills every practice. I usually like to start warm-up with about 200 yards of fist swimming and "piano playing" to help find my pull (especially on my left arm). I don't know what your practice cycle looks like, but many serious programs do some kind of adjustment phase - base phase - speed phase - taper phase cycle where you get in and do a couple weeks of easy swimming (adjustment phase) then do more aerobic, distance-type swims (base phase), then more race-pace type sets (speed phase) targeted toward your choice events, then cut back yards + do sprints (taper). At the end is your target meet. Base phase is usually ~55-60% of the time, speed phase is ~30%, and taper is ~10-15%. A 5-6 month cycle like this is pretty typical. And you can set up a plan like this for, say, a base phase peak of 15-20,000 yards/week, even less if you're aiming for 50s/100s (I've heard Rob Peel did about 2500/practice while training for the 50 for trials). And when you do your fast practice swims, get fired up for them. When they start to hurt, gut them out, especially the last one--try to bring that one home. For gosh sakes, though, if you think your shoulder or back is going to bust, then rest. When some people talk about doing "quality swimming", this is what they mean. They're supposed to be hard, but you just have to think about how much better your target race will go, and how much faster you'll be able to finish that race. My definition of "quality swimming" involves both swimming with good technique and swimming hard on the sets that are supposed to be swum hard (and esp, swimming with good technique when you're tired on those sets). Swimming in the offseason helps immensely and is a great time to really work on your technique. This is a real difference maker for a lot of people that I've known. It doesn't have to be intense, but if you can get in an hour 2-3x a week in the off season, you can go into your next training cycle with better technique and with somewhat of a base already. Cross-training at any time will help improve your cardio and core strength and reduce monotony, but I wouldn't suggest doing it during taper. The point of this long post is that you have to look at it in terms of a long-term plan to get where you want to be. I don't think it's necessary to be in the pool 2 hours a day every day, beating up yards to get satisfying results. I'd target a meet, like your state meet, for next year and then think in terms of how to structure your workout routines over that year. If you have a year, starting from now, take 6 months and work on technique and do a lot of long, slow distance swimming a few times a week, then start a 6 month training cycle structured along the above lines. Then lather, rinse, repeat, so on and so forth. HTH, Mike